Palestinian killed in clashes with Israeli forces

BEIT UMMAR, West Bank (AP) — A Palestinian was killed and about a dozen wounded in clashes with Israeli soldiers that erupted after a funeral in the West Bank, Palestinian officials said Friday.

An emergency room doctor at Al Ahli Hospital in Hebron said 27-year-old Ziad Awad arrived from the nearby town of Beit Ummar in critical condition with a bullet in the abdomen and later died of his wounds.

Another 10 people were being treated for minor injuries sustained by rubber bullets, he said. The doctor spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Earlier, thousands attended a funeral for the man's cousin, who died three months after being released early from an Israeli prison due to illness.

After the funeral, Palestinians threw rocks at soldiers manning a watchtower on a road near the town, according to witnesses.

Israel's military said Palestinians threw rocks and firebombs, and rolled burning tires toward soldiers. It said troops used tear gas at first, but fired low-caliber bullets at the legs of four men after the soldiers felt their lives were in danger.

The United Nations released a statement calling for calm and restraint. The statement expressed "sympathy for the victims" of violence in the past week.

A Palestinian stabbed two Israeli soldiers outside a West Bank settlement on Wednesday before he was killed by one of the soldiers. Israel saw a wave of similar attacks in the West Bank and Jerusalem toward the end of last year, but the violence had mostly subsided.